All Roads Lead to Tokens - The Impact of NFTs on Galleries and Museums

Abstract

Non-fungible token was a buzzword throughout 2021 and continues to thrive. NFTs are uniquely identifiable digital representations of structured metadata referring to physical or digital items. They are predominantly used to transfer certain interests and rights (including intellectual property) over the fandom, profile pictures or born-digital artworks. While NFTs might be primarily used in for-profit settings, with numerous artists and brands reaping the benefits of marketing their creations on NFT platforms, they have profound relevance for organisations active in the field of the digital preservation and dissemination of cultural heritage. This chapter discusses how NFTs might be approached by the GLAM sector. It especially focuses on the possible changes to the financing and the professional role of galleries and museums, the potential of NFTs to revolutionise access to digitised or born-digital artworks from a much wider audience, the fate of ownership of ‘real-world’ artworks, the possible collaborations of cultural organisations and NFT platforms, and whether NFTs can serve as an optimal solution for the preservation and dissemination of cultural heritage hosted by cultural organisations. It also presents the findings of a survey-based empirical analysis of the perceptions of people interested in NFTs related to the relevance of NFTs in the galleries and museums sector.